Great details. I came here to find out if nasonex or nasocort is better for inflamed turbinates. I know that flonase irritates after a time. I never thought to take a break from the nasal steroids - my doctor said to try it for 3 months.
What I think may be helpful for those who do nasal washing is to put a dash of Alkalol in the neti pot. It makes the saline solution so gentle. I make sure not to nasal wash at the end of the day - I need some mucus to build up for going to sleep.
There is a lot you can do for long Covid, and I would start with a nebulizer. I got a cheap one on Amazon when I got covid & it immediately stopped lung involvement. It's good to be able to add medication to the liquid, like colloidal silver, diluted iodine, or hydrogen peroxide, and my cheapo one stopped working with this, so I went back to a dash of diluted iodine. (I've since bought a higher end one to have on hand in case I ever get sick again. Next time I'm using undiluted Hypochlorous acid. It is totally non-irritating.) You can do a search on the facebook page https://www.facebook.com/groups/147033287399335 for ways to use it besides sterile saline. The best tip I read was to put the directing nozzle at your nose to inhale, rather than covering nose & mouth. Depending on the day, there is discussion of innoculatiosn, but there is tons of info on treatment. Definitely narrow your search to symptoms, because searching on Long Covid would be endless. People are very helpful on this site, and there is input from a lot of healthcare workers.